Abstract: The exploitativeness/entitlement factor of narcissism has been characterized as representing
maladaptive characteristics such as anxiety (Watson & Biderman, 1993), suspiciousness, lack of empathy
(Emmons, 1984), and hostility toward others (Ruiz, Smith, & Rhodewalt, 2001). The hypersensitivity
aspect of covert narcissism has also been associated with exploitativeness/entitlement (Ryan et al.,
2008). Interestingly, exploitativeness/entitlement has been found to relate to measures of aggression in
women only (Emmons, 1984; Ryan et al., 2008). Given that exploitativeness/entitlement is associated
with tendencies toward manipulation of others (Emmons, 1984), one focus of this study was to examine
how the factor relates to different types of influence tactics. Further, research suggests that men and
women may differ in their outward expressions of narcissism (Mort & Rhodewalt, 2001), thus, possible
sex differences were also investigated.
Jealousy has been a topic of much research and examined as separate cognitive, emotional, and
behavioral dimensions, with cognitive jealousy reflecting jealous and suspicious thoughts, emotional
jealousy reflecting negative feelings due to a partner’s infidelity, and behavioral jealousy reflecting jealous
actions and behaviors such as going through a partner’s personal belongings (Pfeiffer & Wong, 1989).
Given the maladaptive nature associated with exploitativeness/entitlement, it is possible this factor relates
to the three dimensions of jealousy. To date, no research has examined how the
exploitativeness/entitlement factor of narcissism relates to the three dimensions of jealousy.The current
study thus explored relationships between the exploitativeness/entitlement factor of narcissism and
hypersensitivity to threat, cognitive, emotional, and behavioral jealousy, as well as tendencies toward aggression and influence tactics; further, possible sex differences in these relationships were examined.
A convenience sample of college students (N = 120) gave informed consent and subsequently
completed a packet of questionnaires which included the Narcissistic Personality Inventory (NPI; Raskin & Hall, 1979), the Hypersensitive Narcissism Scale (HSNS; Hendin & Cheek, 1997), the Buss-Perry
Aggression Questionnaire (AQ; Buss & Perry, 1992), the Multidimensional Jealousy Scale (Pfeiffer &
Wong, 1989) which evaluates cognitive, emotional, and behavioral jealousy, as well as six categories of
influence tactics taken from Howard et al. (1986) which included manipulation, supplication, bullying,
autocracy, disengagement, and bargaining.
Results supported previous findings suggesting that men and women may differ in their
expressions of narcissism in that, while exploitativeness/entitlement was associated with the influence
tactic autocracy in both men and women, sex differences emerged in that exploitativeness/entitlement in
men was also related to the influence tactics of manipulation, disengagement, and bargaining, whereas
women’s exploitativeness/entitlement was also related to the influence tactics of supplication and bullying.
These results also support previous research suggesting that women’s exploitativeness/entitlement may
be related to more coercive types of influence tactics (Ryan et al., 2008). Further, relationships were
found between women’s exploitativeness/entitlement and overall aggression, as well as the specific
aggression subfactors of anger and physical aggression, supporting previous research revealing a
relationship between exploitativeness/entitlement and aggression measures in women (Emmons, 1984;
Ryan et al., 2008).
The current results revealed a relationship between women’s hypersensitivity and
exploitativeness/entitlement, as well as the influence tactics of supplication, bullying, and disengagement.
However no relationships were found between hypersensitivity and exploitativeness/entitlement or any influence tactic in men. These findings may indicate that exploitativeness/entitlement and hypersensitivity
are more a factor in preference for specific influence tactics in women than in men.
Regarding jealousy, results revealed that aggression was a significant predictor in both men and
women of cognitive, as well as behavioral jealousy. This finding may indicate that aggression plays a
central role in jealous thoughts as well as the tendency to act on those thoughts.
Exploitativeness/entitlement was found to predict emotional and cognitive jealousy in women; in contrast,
exploitativeness/entitlement failed to significantly predict any dimension of men’s jealousy. This finding
may indicate that exploitativeness/entitlement is more of a component of jealous thoughts and feelings in
women, while less central to jealousy in men. Further, hypersensitivity, along with aggression, was found to predict men’s behavioral jealousy, which may indicate that, for men, hypersensitivity to threat, as well
as tendencies toward aggression are central to their jealous actions and behaviors.
Examinations of overall levels of exploitativeness/entitlement, hypersensitivity, aggression,
dimensions of jealousy, and the six influence tactics revealed minimal differences between men and
women; however, the current study does suggest that, although overall levels of these characteristics and
tendencies may not differ between men and women, differences may exist in how they relate to each
other.
The current study was limited in several ways including the low reliability of the
exploitativeness/entitlement subscale of the NPI, and the inability to account for sexual orientation and
gender role orientation. Future research should examine the possible effects of gender role and sexual
orientation in the relationships between jealousy, influence tactics, maladaptive narcissism, aggression,
and hypersensitivity. Future studies should also continue to examine the role of hypersensitivity in men’s
and women’s aggressive tendencies, as well as dimensions of jealousy. Further, research should focus
on developing a more valid and reliable measure of the negative and maladaptive aspects of narcissism.